PlayStation 3 Games That Still Haven’t Been Ported

Key Takeaways

• Many classic games from the PS3 era have not been brought forward to the PS4/PS5.
• Some standout PS3 titles like Folklore and Drakengard 3 deserve a chance on newer consoles.
• Despite the success of remakes, many original PS3 games remain trapped on the older system.

With the PlayStation 3 came the advent of high resolutions, and the pursuit of the highest graphical fidelity in favour of all else. This is the console generation that gave us The Last of Us, Uncharted, Dead Space, and plenty more. Some genre-defining games here, as well as a healthy collection of games that couldn’t help but chase the prestige of cinema.

And while many of the more filmic games have found their way to the PS4 and beyond in remakes and remasters, some of the most unique entries on the PS3 are still stuck there, just waiting to get another chance to be played and entice the minds of others.

Updated November 4th, 2024 by Hilton Webster: aSony has taken a rather distinct approach with the PS5 – old games are great in spirit, but bad in execution. Therefore, there is no point in releasing them when you could just remake them instead. As such, you can experience a version of many of these games, though none of the originals. Maybe someday, Sony will deign to just port the original games and save itself millions of dollars.

13

All The Ratchet And Clank Games

In 2016, the Ratchet and Clank series returned with a soft reboot of the games, and this game was later given a PS5 update to let it run even better. Rift Apart then gave us a brand-new entry in the series, giving a new vision for what the games could be. So what happened between Gladiator and the 2016 reboot?

A whole bunch of PS3 games, actually. Despite the majority of those games being well-received, and Sony seemingly being big fans of bringing Ratchet and Clank back, they have no intention of bringing forward the PS3 games that the fewest amount of people have had the chance to experience.

12

Folklore

In 2007, a very specific game released – Folklore, a game set in and featuring Irish mythology by the Japanese studio, Game Republic. While many pieces of media take inspiration from Irish mythos, it is rare to have a game feature it directly, set in real-world Ireland, no less.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all that stellar a game, though it did have a quite unique art direction. Split between exploring the real town of Doolin and the Otherworld, Folklore had an enticing loop but some stiff gameplay that let it down. Yet despite that, it is still a game that tried something new and others really do deserve the chance to experience it.

11

Yakuza: Dead Souls

Nowadays, the Yakuza series, or Like A Dragon as new entries as titled, is a massive series. Each new entry is a big launch for Sega, and they somehow all end up being incredibly unique despite the obscenely short time between releases. With such a deluge of incredible titles, it’s very easy to forget the poorer entries in the series.

Enter Yakuza: Dead Souls. It is a zombie game featuring third-person shooter mechanics. Seeing as the rest of the games are brawlers, it was a rather distinct shift. It also wasn’t an exceptionally well-executed idea either, taking away most of the series’ iconic elements. But the lows of a series only make the highs that much better, and everyone should be able to give Dead Souls a shot.

Most Metal Gear Solid games have been ported to heck and back. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater even received enhanced expansions. Given this trend, one would have expected Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to get the same treatment, but the only update this ever received past its initial 2008 release was a trophy patch.

That’s it. Rumors persist of an Xbox 360 version originally being in development, and fans are begging for its inclusion in a future Master Collection. Even emulation isn’t a surefire way to play the game! The original PS3 release is the only means of actually playing the game in any means adjacent to functional.

9

Resistance: Fall Of Man

Resistance: Fall of Man was a launch title for the PS3. Instead of a cute Lombax shooting robots, aka Ratchet and Clank, Insomniac Games wanted to create a more realistic shooter with a sci-fi twist on WWII.

The trilogy on the PS3 is trapped on the system, with the series’ only other releases being two portable spin-offs for the PSP and PlayStation Vita respectively. The fact a five-piece collection, or at the very least an updated trilogy package, has not released on the PS4 yet is surprising to say the least.

8

Heavenly Sword

Another launch game for the PS3 was Heavenly Sword. A new player in the character-action genre, taking plenty of cues from Sony’s own God Of War, Heavenly Sword found plenty of other ways to make itself stand out, the groundbreaking for the time motion capture among them.

Andy Serkis directed much of the motion capture due to his own experience with the tech. Ninja Theory’s ownership by Microsoft combined with many people generally forgetting the game exists makes the chances of a new port that much more unlikely.

7

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Super Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo’s biggest series, a party fighting game that everyone wants their own version of. Sony was one of the earlier companies to try its hand at a competitor, and while they weren’t exactly successful, the attempt has to be commended for actually trying to differentiate it from Smash in terms of gameplay.

One of the major issues with the game was the lack of characters. While Smash managed to get collabs with characters they had barely any relation to, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale couldn’t even get its own iconic characters. No Final Fantasy for PlayStation while Nintendo did just felt like salt in the wound.

6

Infamous

When Infamous first released on the PS3, it was a good, fun game, and a distinct change from Sucker Punch’s previous Sly Cooper games. The sequel was a much more confident affair, even letting your choices give you a whole new set of abilities.

Despite the high regard that Sony holds Sucker Punch in, with there even being an Infamous game for the PS4, the first two entries are relegated to the PS3, seemingly forever more. Perhaps Sony will make a remake for them, since it loves doing that now.

5

Demon’s Souls

FromSoftware came to international prominence with Demon’s Souls, having previously been most well-known domestically with the Armored Core titles. Demon’s Souls was more than just a boost in popularity for the developer though, it fundamentally changed how games are designed.

That’s what makes its exclusion from any modern ports all the more baffling. Yes, it got a very pretty remake from Bluepoint, but that’s like one of those botched restorations of an old painting. All those extra layers detract from the rough edges that added a more personable feel to the original. A lather of modern UI detracts from the subversive nature of the original that made it so popualr in the first place.

4

Tokyo Jungle

Tokyo Jungle is such a silly game, but we absolutely adore it. In case some don’t remember, this takes place in the post-apocalyptic zone of Tokyo. Everyone died in a horrific event, but all of the wildlife did not. That means that Tokyo is now being rebuilt by Mother Earth and her many critters.

Players can be herbivores like Antelope, or tiny little carnivorous Pomeranians. There are so many choices in this Darwinian version of Battle Royale. It is rough around the edges, but a good time nonetheless.

3

Puppeteer

Combined with the lack of a cross-platform release or modern port, as well as releasing just two months before the PS4, Puppeteer is a PS3 exclusive with a genuinely gorgeous artstyle, and unique perspective shifts that make it unlike so many other games.

The worst part is that it’s a genuinely incredible platformer, a genre Sony mostly ignored until the Astro Bot games. To think Sony has another artistically-rich, genre-diverse title in the vast catalog of games that simply isn’t being released is a decision that is as baffling as it is foolish.

2

Drakengard 3

Drakengard 3 is another example of a game releasing too late on the console. Outside of Japan, Drakengard 3 launched in May 2014 long after the PS4’s debut. For those unaware, the Drakengard series is actually the predecessor for Nier.

Nier was actually a spin-off of a what-if scenario based on one of Drakengard 2’s endings. With Nier Automata bringing the series to worldwide acclaim, it feels only natural that Drakengard 3, and its PS2 siblings, get the chance to wow a new console generation of players.

1

Fat Princess

Fat Princess was a fun twist on the multiplayer classic mode of Capture The Flag. Instead of teams trying to literally do that, they instead had to capture the neighboring kingdom’s princess. In order to make it harder for opponents, players could feed said princess cake to make her fat and thus heavier to escort away.

Fat Princess is still one of the silliest multiplayer games out there. While it later got a PSP port, it was functionally still locked within the same console generation, with neither the home or portable console having much longevity beyond the other.